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Committee chairperson Usha Waghire said the meeting was adjourned on Tuesday due to lack of quorum.

A proposal to demolish a school building at Moshi and constructing a new one at a cost of Rs 1.89 crore was approved. Another proposal to demolish the school building in Dhaikarvasti in Dudulgaon and constructing a new school at an expenditure of Rs 30 lakh was also approved.

The proposal to shift high voltage electricity cables and poles obstructing traffic on the road from Sant Dnyaneshwar chowk to Big India chowk in the Pradhikaran area was approved. The project will require Rs 1.42 crore.

D.S. Vyawahare, director of the department, said, "The funds from the state are expected to be released soon. Generally, the work starts late in monsoon, as such watersheds are weak and heavy rains often damage such structures."

Watershed projects are the small-time constructions, which are meant to block water from flowing away.

Currently, there are 27,000 watersheds developed in the state, of which 9,000 have been completed. The rest could not be completed due to lack of funds, said Vyawahare. "Under the accelerated watershed development programme (AWDP), the partly completed watersheds would be developed to block water for the winters. The government has decided to complete the projects which are 75 per cent constructed. Such watersheds will get funds from the agriculture department."

The proposal states that the amount of e-waste generation is rapidly rising in the city due to the presence of large number of Information Technology (IT) companies and the increased usage of electronic goods at the individual level.

According to an `E-Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment Assessment (WEEE)' study undertaken by the Air Quality Management Cell (AQMC) of the PMC, more than 2,584 metric tonne ewaste is generated per year in the city, and the amount is on the rise each year.

Ajay Aggarwal, the chief operating officer of a multinational company, recently formed an NGO, Margdarshak. An active Rotarian, he has decided to spread awareness on basic traffic rules through the Rotary Margdarshak Movement. "People know the rules, but don't feel the need to obey them, as flouting them has become an unquestioned practice," feels Aggarwal, a member of Rotary Club of Pune Central.

Formed to spread awareness on social and civic issues, the traffic awareness campaign is Margdarshak's maiden activity.

In the first phase of the initiative, members of the Rotary Club of Pune Central, their families, friends, and colleagues will be trained and encouraged to follow five basic traffic rules. "They will be encouraged to be role models for other motorists," states Aggarwal.

The five rules include wearing the seatbelt, not talking on the mobile phone while driving, observing traffic signals, using the indicator when necessary, and abstaining from honking.

Even as the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) today sought Rs 480 crore from the central government for improvement of Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) routes, uncertainty looms over raising of funds to cover the additional costs of the System. Around Rs 600 crore are required as the project estimation has increased from Rs 807 crore to Rs 1,400 crore

"We have not yet considered the PMC demand to fund the additional project cost of the BRTS in Pune," Union Urban Development Secretary M Ramchandran told reporters after reviewing the pilot BRTS route from Swargate to Katraj. Clearly expressing surprise over the hike in project cost of the BRTS, Ramchandran said that the PMC's demand for Rs 480 crore for the BRTS will be discussed at a meeting in New Delhi on Friday.

When it was pointed out to him that the PMC was seeking funds from the World Bank to meet the additional project costs, he said that it was up to the local civic body and the state government to decide on it "as we would only make recommendations for it".

"There are limitations over funding of the projects under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), but the Centre is committed to bearing 50 per cent of the project cost," he added. Expressing satisfaction over BRTS work in the city, the the Union secretary said that the System in Pune is the pilot project for the country and there would be improvements in it in accordance with needs.

"BRTS is the best and fastest of all public transport for the urban areas of the country. The space on roads is limited and the problem is getting compounded as the number of vehicles coming on roads is increasing by the day," he said. "The Centre has recommended strengthening of the signal system and segregation of the BRTS lane to avoid accidents after a spate of ones in both Pune and Delhi.

Enjoying a bus ride on the BRTS lane, Ramchandran was also quick to point out that the PMC's failure to mention JNNURM anywhere in the lane. Municipal Commissioner Praveensinh Pardeshi said that the frequency of BRTS buses would soon be increased to avoid infiltration of other vehicles on the BRTS lane.

Earlier, Congress leader Suresh Kalmadi, MP, said that the Centre had been urged to allot Rs 480 crore to the PMC for carrying out the additional work needed to improve the BRTS and start work on the first phase of BRTS in the city.

Ramchandran noted that the PMC has been given "AA" rating by the private agency appointed for evaluation of 63 urban local bodies in the country. "The credit rating of urban local civic bodies has been carried out to enable them to raise funds from the open market for infrastructure development," he explained.

The Union secretary said that the upgradation of infrastructure in cities under JNNURM also includes reduction of water wastage. "There is an average wastage of 50 per cent water in India, while only 4 per cent of water gets wasted in Singapore," he pointed out, explaining the need for improving the water supply system.

Population
India possesses the fastest growing population in the world, expanding at the rate of 16 million per year. India already is pressing China for the No. 1 spot and is due to pass its fellow Asian giant within the next generation, on its way to 1.5 million people.

This mega-nation's per-capita income is destined to eventually sextuple the per-capita income of its giant neighbor because of its much greater drive toward modern technology.

India's middle class numbers 330 million and is fast growing. Their newly earned money is spent on retail sales growth, averaging 13 percent or more for the next several years.

Infrastructure
The government's investment in the country's infrastructure is skyrocketing, rising 9.9 percent in 2007. Automotive sales are accelerating at a 17 percent growth rate; airline passenger traffic is expected to more than triple over the next five years from 14 million to about 50 million people per year.

India's government already has issued plans on spending $90 billion on industrial-related projects over the next three years.

This will include:

High-speed rail freight lines.

Power plants to supply an additional 4000 megawatts.

Three new seaports.

Six new airports.

12 new industrial clusters.

Over the next four years, by 2012, the Indian government plans on spending a total of $500 billion to build out and improve India's infrastructure.

Manufacturing
Manufacturing accounts for almost 30 percent of India's economy. India has lately become a world leader in the technology service industry. It now handles the outsourcing for hundreds of U.S.-based computer hardware and software manufacturers and telecoms.

• Natural resources
  
• Investment
  
• Corporate earnings

The credit plan has 22 banks -- 17 PSUs, four private and two coops -- participating this year.

With most banks putting up the list of beneficiaries for the loan waiver as announced by the Central Government on Monday, the credit plan has allocated Rs 1,743.86 crore for fresh loans for the agriculture sector in the district.

Announcing the plan to the media, district collector Chandrakant Dalvi said the annual credit plan for Pune district is up 18 per cent from Rs 4,301.62 crore last year. "This is the highest in the country," he said.

The plan will also see allocation of Rs 60 crore for the 40,000 self-help groups in the district. The collector is keen to have Pune participate in the Nirmal Gram Yojana scheme with the help of self-help groups and the zilla parishad. "The members will be trained to construct toilet blocks. Nearly four lakh families under the SHG will be covered under this scheme and the group will be called Nirmal Bachat Gat," he said.

The ambitious integrated farm development model that will cover 1,850 villages has been allocated Rs 100 crore, the same as last year. The project aims at seeing one farmer in each of these villages getting loans in the Rs 5-10 lakh range.

The farmers will also be trained in a farming model that will integrate sugarcane farming, horticulture, drip irrigation methods, cereals, vegetables, dairy, fishery or even sericulture as per the soil structure.

"We will soon conduct a meeting to assess this model," Dalvi said.

For the non-agriculture sector and small-scale industries, Rs 176.26 crore has been allocated. Under the various schemes of the Central Government, the credit plan has allocated Rs 196.85 crore for the National Horticulture Board, Rs 853.05 for Kisan Credit Society and Rs 220.36 crore for small scale industries.

To push trade in the region, the State Industries Ministry has initiated the process of modernisation of the airports operated by the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC). Baramati, in Pune district, will be among the five airports to go in for privatisation.

The others primed for a makeover in the State include the MIDC operated airports at Nanded, Latur, Osmanabad and Yavatmal. Tenders were floated and the ministry received 28 responses. "We want the private party to draw out a plan for each airport taking into consideration, among other things, maintenance and operations of the airports," Industries Minister Ashok Chavan told this paper. "The entire process would be completed in six months time."

Most of these airports already have the requisite facilities, but have not been put to commercial use. A private party is expected maintain and operate the airports and ensure that they are made commercially viable. "As of now, these airports are being used only for government operated aircrafts. With the introduction of private players, we hope there will be an increase in air traffic to these areas, which inturn, will help boost trade in the State," he said.

Microbial culture is a method of multiplying microbial organisms by letting them reproduce in predetermined culture media under controlled laboratory conditions. It is one of the primary diagnostic methods of microbiology and used as a tool to determine the cause of infectious disease.

Speaking to TOI on Monday, Subhash Dumbre, additional commissioner, PCMC, said the areas will get the service in the first phase of the wi-fi project.

In fact, the standing committee has approved a resolution to give the contract to the consortium led by Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) to provide the wi-fi services throughout the PCMC limits, covering a total area of 171 sq km.

The IL&FS consortium consists of Software Technology Park of India (STPI), Fujitsu India and Lifestyle Network. IL&FS will invest the money in the project, STPI will be the ISP service provider, Fujitsu India Ltd. will handle the data centre and Lifestyle Network will provide commercial services.

Dumbre said the IL&FS has released the money for importing equipment to provide the service in the first phase of the project. Spots have been identified on the old Pune-Mumbai highway, where the units will be installed to provide the wi-fi facility. The land and estate department of the PCMC will get rent from the consortium for permission to set up these units.

The IL&FS is yet to sign a joint venture agreement with the PCMC, but the civic body has provided a Letter of Intent (LoI) to Il&FS, thereby the money required to purchase equipment has been released. The first-phase plan for the wi-fi project will be submitted to PCMC in a week.

While the Maharashtra Government is encouraging special townships under the new housing policy and 90 applications for locational clearances have so far been received, Pune is emerging as one of their major destinations. It accounts for 34 of the proposals under consideration and seven of the eight townships sanctioned by the state, the other one being in Nagpur. One of the Pune special townships -- Magarpatta City -- was set up before the policy was formulated and granted the status later.

Urban development department officials said, however, that only three of these sanctioned townships are operational. Of the applications pending with the director (town planning) of the Urban Development Department, the Konkan region accounts for 40 followed by Nagpur (12) and Nashik (4). The state government recently decided to hike the FSI granted in these townships from 0.5 to one and the premium on the extra FSI will have to be paid to it in accordance with the ready reckoner value.

Cleared so far in Pune

• Magarpatta City (set up before the policy was formulated)
  
• Amanora City
  
• Nanded City
  
• Flagship Infrastructure, Hinjewadi
  
• Knowledge City, Lavale, Mulshi
  
• Kumar City, Manjri
  
• Kumar City, Mhalunge
  
• Kolte Patil, Mouje Jambwe

"Townships will be like cities but will have 50 per cent open space. They will be self-contained, with even their own sewage treatment plants (STP)," said a senior official from the state urban development department. He assured that pending applications would receive locational clearance by July-end but added that applications with deficiencies would be cleared later.

An artist's impression of the proposed Holkar bridge

When questioned by reporters about the conflicting decision, standing committee chairman Sham Deshpande, however, failed to offer a satisfactory answer.

He reasoned that the construction of the bridge was important as the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has acquired the land from the military establishment with great difficulty. "Moreover, tenders for bridges are called as per schedule rates of public works department and we found the rates quoted are competitive," Deshpande said.

While the estimated project cost was Rs 44 crore, the tender cost has now gone upto Rs 61.57 crore. Even the civic administration defended the move, stating that they had checked the costs incurred by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) for construction of bridges.

The Kelkar museum put across a proposal for grants and the offer was accepted, bringing with it grants worth 48,000 Euros under the Kulturerhalt Programme run by Germany's Federal Foreign Office to Protect Cultural Heritage.

The German money has helped the museum acquire 20 new display cases fitted with LED lights worth Rs 7 lakhs in its bronze and textile gallery. The museum also brought high-end equipment for its treatment laboratories like, microscopes, microtome machine, PH metre and hydrometre to name some.

"This is the first time, our museum has received such a funding, thereby giving us international exposure," says Sudhanva Ranade, joint director of the museum.

This grant programme by Germany's federal foreign office has financed 2,100 projects around the world to preserve cultural heritage in places where the necessary financial means are scarce. The German government, acting upon the initiative of the German Consulate General in Mumbai, decided to give this grant. The Max Mueller Bhavan in Pune too, helped in this process by forwarding a recommendation letter on the same. Apparently, the Kelkar Museum project is the first such grant to the state from Germany.

A proposal for beautifying both sides of the Pune-Mumbai highway, from Harris bridge in Dapodi to Hindustan Petroleum (HP) pump at Nashik Phata, will be tabled in the standing committee meeting scheduled to be held on Tuesday.